American Stores

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American Stores was the name of a United States chain of supermarkets. It was formed in 1917 when Acme Markets merged with four other Philadelphia area grocery chains into American Stores.

History

1960s-1980s

In 1961, the company acquired California's Alpha-Beta stores. The company itself was acquired in 1979 by Skaggs Drug Centers, which took the American Stores name, and the company located its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company expanded further by acquiring in 1984 the Jewel supermarket chain, which had owned Osco since 1961. It consolidated its hold in California by buying Lucky Stores in 1988, also in California, and then divested Alpha-Beta, Buttrey Food & Drug, and Star Markets.

Albertsons

The company ceased to exist in 1998 when American Stores was acquired by Albertson's. All of their former divisions except for Lucky still exist (Albertson's rebranded Lucky because both chains had had stores in the same region). However, Albertson's has preserved the Acme, Jewel, Osco and Sav-on namesakes. Freestanding Sav-on or Osco stores will be converted into CVS/pharmacy stores. However, Albertson's will retain the trademarks because the pharmacies in their grocery stores are either branded Sav-on Pharmacy and Osco Pharmacy.

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